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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bronx Zoo Gets Special Christmas Bundle of Joy

Aired January 03, 2003 - 05:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This next story is so cute. The Bronx Zoo got a special Christmas bundle of joy and it wasn't delivered by Santa.
Our Jeanne Moos has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, everyone makes a fuss over the first babies of the new year. But we've decided to stick our neck out and focus on a baby born Christmas Day, a newborn that's been growing an inch a day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That little creature is only a week old.

MOOS: Yup. But his mom, Claire, is ancient. Giraffes in the wild usually live to only 20 or so and here Claire is giving birth at 27. At first, keepers at the Bronx Zoo weren't sure she was pregnant.

JOAN MCCABE, SENIOR KEEPER, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: Merely because she's had eight other offspring before and she kind of lost her girlish figure.

MOOS: It was Christmas afternoon when Mary, not the Virgin Mary, but keeper Mary Gentile (ph) noticed something was up in the maternity stall.

MARY GENTILE: And there were too hooves sticking out.

MOOS: Baby giraffes are born head first and plop to the ground, as you see in these pictures from a South American zoo. Officially, Bronx Zoo officials have named the Christmas giraffe James XII after a donor. But keepers call him Jeffrey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM TOYS R US)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, sir, I'm an endangered species.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: As in Jeffrey the Toys R Us giraffe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM TOYS R US)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's show time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MOOS: Now every day is show time for this Jeffrey. At first, he was 140 pounds, 5'5," the same height as this 12-year-old .

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: If I was looking right at him it would be like hello.

MOOS: But already Jeffrey has grown to six feet. Keepers can't just walk up and measure him or they might get kicked by mom. So instead...

MCCABE: If you look at the mural, you see sort of like the mountain there?

MOOS (on camera): Yes?

(voice-over): The keeper knows Jeffrey reaches the top of the mountain and she's measured the mountain at six feet.

MCCABE: hey! Hey!

MOOS (on camera): Now, why do you have to yell at him?

MCCABE: Because he, she knocked him down.

MOOS: Oh.

MCCABE: She's very jealous.

MOOS (voice-over): She is Jeffrey's 8-year-old sister and she doesn't seem to get a kick out of the competition for attention. The giraffes come in handy for human moms admonishing there own kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see how they're chewing? That's what you look like when you chew gum.

MOOS: Already, the giraffes were up in lights as part of the zoo's holiday display.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM TOYS R US)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, yo, Jeffrey?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Rudolph the Reindeer may have a red nose, but he's nowhere near neck and neck with Jeffrey, the Christmas giraffe.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 3, 2003 - 05:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This next story is so cute. The Bronx Zoo got a special Christmas bundle of joy and it wasn't delivered by Santa.
Our Jeanne Moos has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, everyone makes a fuss over the first babies of the new year. But we've decided to stick our neck out and focus on a baby born Christmas Day, a newborn that's been growing an inch a day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That little creature is only a week old.

MOOS: Yup. But his mom, Claire, is ancient. Giraffes in the wild usually live to only 20 or so and here Claire is giving birth at 27. At first, keepers at the Bronx Zoo weren't sure she was pregnant.

JOAN MCCABE, SENIOR KEEPER, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: Merely because she's had eight other offspring before and she kind of lost her girlish figure.

MOOS: It was Christmas afternoon when Mary, not the Virgin Mary, but keeper Mary Gentile (ph) noticed something was up in the maternity stall.

MARY GENTILE: And there were too hooves sticking out.

MOOS: Baby giraffes are born head first and plop to the ground, as you see in these pictures from a South American zoo. Officially, Bronx Zoo officials have named the Christmas giraffe James XII after a donor. But keepers call him Jeffrey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM TOYS R US)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, sir, I'm an endangered species.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: As in Jeffrey the Toys R Us giraffe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM TOYS R US)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's show time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MOOS: Now every day is show time for this Jeffrey. At first, he was 140 pounds, 5'5," the same height as this 12-year-old .

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: If I was looking right at him it would be like hello.

MOOS: But already Jeffrey has grown to six feet. Keepers can't just walk up and measure him or they might get kicked by mom. So instead...

MCCABE: If you look at the mural, you see sort of like the mountain there?

MOOS (on camera): Yes?

(voice-over): The keeper knows Jeffrey reaches the top of the mountain and she's measured the mountain at six feet.

MCCABE: hey! Hey!

MOOS (on camera): Now, why do you have to yell at him?

MCCABE: Because he, she knocked him down.

MOOS: Oh.

MCCABE: She's very jealous.

MOOS (voice-over): She is Jeffrey's 8-year-old sister and she doesn't seem to get a kick out of the competition for attention. The giraffes come in handy for human moms admonishing there own kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see how they're chewing? That's what you look like when you chew gum.

MOOS: Already, the giraffes were up in lights as part of the zoo's holiday display.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM TOYS R US)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, yo, Jeffrey?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Rudolph the Reindeer may have a red nose, but he's nowhere near neck and neck with Jeffrey, the Christmas giraffe.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com